Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo yesterday said that nearly $500 million was transferred to the National Communi-cations Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA) by the former PPP/C administration without parliamentary approval.
“I am stunned, I have just seen a document where purportedly the former government transferred almost $500M to NCN and GINA and in all the reports I have for a certain period, I am still trying to figure out where this money gone,” Nagamootoo stated during the post-cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency. The Prime Minister who is also the Minister of Information said that NCN is in need of fine-tooth scrutiny.
He disclosed that the authorities would be “studying” the warrants that were used by persons to access large sums of cash from the Bank of Guyana. He pointed to the similarities between the missing $600M that was allegedly transferred to the then Office of the President from the Public Service Ministry and this case. Former Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford is under investigation in the former case.
Nagamootoo also recalled the findings in the Parmesar report which found financial irregularities and implicated top officials at NCN in 2012. According to the PM, within the next month he would be willing to make the report public but he wanted to review it as he received the document a few weeks ago from a private citizen. The report has been public for quite some time now. However, former President Donald Ramotar had refused to say what action he would take in relation to those implicated.
According to Nagamootoo, it is still to be determined if the Parmesar report is on the desk of President David Granger. He said that given the new revelations, he would “like to see what the new forensics are,” before he rushed into pronouncing on the findings of the 2012 NCN report.
Nagamootoo also mentioned the millions of dollars worth of satellite uplink equipment found in an NCN storeroom a few weeks ago. NCN was paying an uplink provider for years instead of using the new equipment. “This is one entity that needs a lot of scrutiny, needs a big brush to clean it up,” he declared.
“You had this equipment lying there for a number of years now and (it) had not been activated,” he added. The PM pointed out that since the equipment was purchased in 2013, it was not used but instead the former PPP/C government was utilising the services of Television Guyana Inc to broadcast the Guyana Learning Channel under a five-year contract worth $185M which was inked in 2010.
When asked by Stabroek News if his Office’s investigation was able to determine whether or not the equipment is complete, Nagamootoo did not have an answer. “I can’t advise you at this point in time, but it’s something that I will ask to be forwarded to the board,” he said.
Chairman of the Board Bish Panday previously told Stabroek News that the state broadcaster’s lack of technical expertise has delayed a determination of the capabilities of the uplink equipment.
“NCN has a problem with technical people, you could call it wherewithal and I am still trying to get technical advice on the way forward. The equipment is there, I don’t have in house. NCN, I don’t believe they have the technical people to guide the way forward,” he said.
According to Nagamootoo, “we believe that either there has been collusion…or a massive recklessness in regard to assets purchased with the taxpayers money so the new board will have to inquire what really happened.”
Further, he said, his office was also made aware by an ongoing audit that a power generator in the NCN compound was “left to rot.” He said that while NCN has suffered power outages which rendered transmission impossible, there was a generator on site that could have been utilized. “(The) place has been badly managed so it is for the board to deal with the management including the CEO,” Nagamootoo said. “I think it needs new energy, that is what I feel it needs, new energy and it needs new direction and I will come with some disclosures shortly,” he declared.
Nagamootoo refrained from giving his thoughts on the current CEO Molly Hassan saying only that “the CEO, I have an input that I won’t mention here but if I am asked by the board I will give an opinion, but let the board decide what it wants to do.” The PM also expressed frustration at the state of NCN’s compound. “I went around there and I saw 14 or 17 vehicles, most of them cannibalized, they went in there with engines and wheels, they didn’t fly in there but they are all park up there,” he said.
According to the PM, the sight of the compound and the lack of resources within such as desks and chairs has him very concerned with how the $500M was spent. He noted that this sum was part of the $6B spent by the former administration without parliamentary approval. Nagamootoo said that it was only now that he was able to access the documents that showcased where the money went although when in opposition, both APNU and AFC had requested then Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh to reveal the framework.
